Sainsbury’s planned extension of its Kidlington, Oxfordshire supermarket has been revived by a High Court decision to quash a refusal of planning permission.
The Secretary of State refused consent for the 14,720 sq ft (1,368 sq m) extension of Sainsbury’s Oxford Road supermarket last December, although a planning inspector had recommended that permission be granted.
Mr Justice Collins has now backed Sainsbury’s appeal, and has ordered the Secretary of State to reconsider the matter. The judge held that the Secretary of State should have taken into account evidence establishing a qualitative need for the extension.
The ruling means that Sainsbury’s may eventually win planning permission for the floorspace extension, allowing it to increase the range of convenience goods offered to customers while decreasing “overtrading” and checkout queues.
Under retail planning policy, Sainsbury’s was required to show both a “quantitative” need for the proposed changes, relying upon an economic analysis of the potential spending within the store’s catchment area, and a “qualitative” need for an improvement in the store’s facilities.
The Secretary of State held that evidence of a vast growth in sales was indicative of a qualitative need for the extension, to cope with overcrowding at checkouts and to provide a greater range of foods, but not a quantitative need.
However, the High Court has now held that overtrading can be regarded as an indicator of quantitative need, depending on the individual circumstances of a case
Mr Justice Collins maintained that, although circumstances could exist in which overtrading would not represent the catchment area, for example where a store was located on a busy commuter route and trade came from outside the area, in the present case no such evidence could be found.
He said: “What I have decided is that the secretary of state has to consider all the evidence that is capable of bearing on a quantitative need, and it will, in an appropriate case, include this evidence.”
The court ordered the secretary of state to pay Sainsbury’s £18,000 legal costs, and refused leave to appeal.
References: EGi News 02/07/04
